


a lucky night

by insufferableknowitall



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Canon Compliant, F/M, Feelings, Feelings Realization, Hermione Granger-centric, Minor Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Minor Seamus Finnigan/Dean Thomas, Pining, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21641605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insufferableknowitall/pseuds/insufferableknowitall
Summary: What happened in the Gryffindor dorm the night that Harry took Felix Felicis, the night that both Lavender and Ron, as well as Dean and Ginny, broke up? What conversations might have happened between Ron and Hermione, late that night in the common room?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 82





	a lucky night

“What are you doing up there with _her_?”

Lavender Brown’s shrill voice filled the stairwell from where she stood, a few steps up towards the boy’s dormitory. In the common room, students froze: a few began to clear out, sensing a row, and others stayed around to watch.

Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger stood on the stairs as, unbeknownst to Lavender, Harry brushed past her, leaving his two friends behind to face Ron’s current angry girlfriend. Hermione froze, taking a step away from Ron and moving into the shadows. Ron wished he could do the same - simply slink away into the shadows and disappear into the dorm. But at this point, it seemed like an opportunity, his way out - he swallowed hard and figured, if he was going to break up with her, it was now or never.

He’d never broken up with anyone before - he wasn’t even sure how to begin the conversation. But lucky (or perhaps, unlucky for him), Lavender was already fuming.

“Well?” she spat, stomping up the stairs towards the two of them. “What the _hell_ were you doing up there? _Alone_? With _her_?”

“Erm, just...homework,” Ron said, glancing at Hermione. It was the truth, and it was much less conspicuous than it looked to Lavender, because they’d been up there with Harry. But Harry had to go sneaking off underneath the invisibility cloak, and they couldn’t tell her about that.

“Oh really?” she hissed, “You’ve been avoiding me for weeks, and now I find you up in your dorm with her, you never even took me up to your dorm, and - don’t you dare sneak away!”

Hermione, bright red in the face, had attempted to slip past Lavender and leave the couple to their spat alone - but Lavender grabbed Hermione’s wrist and stopped her in her tracks.

“I know what you’re doing,” she said, glaring at Hermione, “Suddenly he’s all interesting, hmm, because he’s been poisoned? And he’s talking to you again, so instead of wooing him with your personality, which has clearly failed miserably for the past six years, you’re...you’re…”

Hermione spoke quietly, her voice shakier than she wanted it to be: “Honestly, Lavender,” she said slowly, “You’ve...you’ve lived with me for nearly seven years. If you think I’m really that, well...if you think I’m really going to throw myself at him the minute we start talking again, than you must not know me at all.”

Lavender opened and closed her mouth a few times, resembling a fish out of water, and then said darkly: “If you expect me to believe that, then you’re daft. I see the way you look at him - I’ve seen it for years.” Then, she wheeled on Ron, releasing Hermione’s wrist from her grip and poking her finger at his chest. “And you!” she screeched, her voice raising at least two octaves, “You’re falling for it! She’s just using you, to get what she wants!”

Hermione half expected Ron to back down in fear, and was surprised when she saw him stand taller, a look in his eyes that she recognized from years ago, from the time Malfoy had called her a mudblood and he’d stepped up to her defense.

“Don’t talk about her like that,” Ron growled. Hermione, who had been ready to escape the minute Lavender had released her, froze on the spot once again at the sound of Ron’s voice.

“It’s true!” Lavender squeaked, tears forming in her eyes. Hermione almost felt bad - she could hear the chatter in the common room, worried whispers and gossip. But then, Lavender continued speaking, and the pity completely disappeared. “She’s using you, Ron, she’s acting like a little wh-”

Lavender never got a chance to finish her sentence - Ron had stepped down a few stairs to stand between Lavender and Hermione, eyes flashing red. “I said _don’t_ ,” he said, his voice eerily low.

Lavender stared at him for a long moment. Hermione stepped down another stair, walking slowly, only staying within earshot to make sure Lavender wasn’t about to hex Ron horribly.

Then, Lavender spoke. Her voice was thick and she was fully crying now, tears dripping down her cheeks. “I should have listened to Parvarti,” she said quietly. “I should have...she...she told me not to go for you.”

Ron didn’t say anything back to her; instead, stood there awkwardly, not sure of whether or not to comfort her, not sure if he would make it all worse.

“She warned me,” Lavender continued, “She told me that you...that you’re in love with...her.” Lavender’s eyes flashed up at Hermione, who stood a few feet behind Ron with her mouth hanging open.

“But I didn’t listen, I thought since...I mean, it’s been six years, I thought that you two would have gotten together by now if you were…if you were going to. But I should have...I should have known.” She sniffed loudly. Though Ron was facing away from her, Hermione could see the back of his neck turn bright red, could hear him wince as he lifted a hand in an effort to comfort Lavender in some way, but she moved away from him.

“It was obvious, wasn’t it?” Lavender continued quietly. “You only wanted to be with me in front of her, and once you started talking again, you...you didn’t want to be with me at all, you had her again, and…”

“Lavender,” Ron said, his voice cracking and dripping with guilt. He reached out and she let him hug her, which Hermione took as her cue to leave. Hermione snuck down the steps quietly, but was slow enough to hear the last bit of their conversation.

“Are you going to deny it?” Lavender whimpered. “Can you?”

There was a pause, and then Hermione heard Ron say quietly, as she stepped into the common room: “No.”

She wasn’t sure how the conversation ended: she heard Lavender ask Ron something along the lines of: “So you choose her?” and she didn’t hear Ron’s answer.

Below, the common room was nearly empty - most of the students that had been down there before had cleared out. A few gaggles of younger Gryffindors sat in the corners, quickly turning away and whispering when they saw Hermione. Parvarti stood at the bottom of the stairs, giving Hermione a shy and apologetic smile. Hermione returned it, blinking quickly to keep the tears that threatened to fall at bay. She was relieved to see Neville, who remained sitting by the fireplace, tending to a plant. Her grinned at her and patted the seat next to him, and she quickly took up the cushion by his side.

“All right, Hermione?” he asked.

She nodded quickly. She knew he must have heard the entirety of the conversation, for Lavender had been shouting most of it, and was grateful that Neville didn’t dare ask questions. Instead, he tended to his plant, and asked an off-handed question about studying for exams, which Hermione answered as briefly as possible, her ears still strained to hear bits of Ron and Lavender’s conversation.

“I’m ending it, then,” she heard Lavender say, her voice returning to a shout. Hermione wasn’t sure whether to cry or jump for joy - she was tempted to do both. However, she didn’t get a chance to hear any more of their conversation, as another row had broken out in the common room: Ginny and Dean, who had been talking quietly by the portrait hole, were now yelling. They appeared so engrossed by their conversation that Ginny hadn’t even glanced up at Hermione, hadn’t even noticed the other fight going on in tandem.

“You’re always doing this!” Ginny shouted, her face just as red as her hair, “I’m done! I’m ending it!” Then, Ginny stomped off towards the dorm room, leaving Dean looking like he’d just been hit in the head with a bludger.

Hermione couldn’t help but wonder if this had something to do with Felix.

Neville, in typical Neville fashion, smiled up at Dean, who slouched into the chair across from him. “All right, Dean?”

Dean grunted in response and sniffed loudly, eyeing the stairwell to check if it had cleared out. Lavender let out a loud sob and then emerged in answer to his question. Immediately, Parvarti wrapped her arms around the girl and guided her towards the girls’ dorm, with another apologetic glance towards Hermione. “Come on,” Parvarti said, steering Lavender toward the other set of stairs. “Oy!” she yelled back, waving at a group of younger students in the corner, “Mind your own business, quit gossiping!”

The girls disappeared up the stairs. Hermione quietly decided she’d avoid the dorm at all costs, at least for one night - perhaps instead, she’d check on Ginny.

Ron didn’t emerge for a few more minutes. When he did, his cheeks were still red and his eyes were wide. Hermione gave him a small smile, and the minute his eyes met hers, the fear left his face and he returned her smile with a grin.

He made his way towards the fire, sitting in one of the empty seats. “Hey, Ron,” Neville said, glancing up from his plant, “You...you all right?”

Ron grunted and shrugged. “She chucked me. Or maybe I chucked her. I dunno…”

Neville looked back and forth between Ron and Hermione. Dean snorted from his seat, clearly disillusioned to love. “And are you...upset about it?”

Ron shook his head quickly. “No. Nah. I’m…” he glanced around, as if afraid Lavender would pop up behind him, and lowered his voice, “Relieved.”

Hermione rolled her eyes while Neville nodded and said, “Well, good for you mate.” Ron dared a glance at Hermione, who flushed slightly when they made eye contact, but kept her face neutral nonetheless.

Dean let out another loud groan and then stood. “Seamus up there?” he asked Ron, not daring to look Ron in the eyes (perhaps, because he’d just been dumped by Ron’s little sister.”

Ron shook his head no.

“Well, if he gets back, tell him I just got chucked and need some of that Irish whiskey.”

Ron nodded, and then the moment Dean was out of earshot, turned to the other two. “Ginny chucked him?!”

“Yeah,” Neville replied, staring after Dean with a sorry look on his face.

“Well, thank Merlin, I was getting real tired of running into those two, reckon she can do better…”

“Tough day for romance all around, I suppose,” Hermione muttered.

Ron shrugged and made eye contact with her, chancing a small smile in her direction. She returned it, though not without shaking her head.

Neville loudly cleared his throat and then began to pack up his things. “Gonna go make sure Dean’s okay,” he muttered, “Harry up there?”

Ron and Hermione both shook their heads no.

“All right. Well, might want to give him a warning if he comes back...reckon Dean and Seamus are both gonna be pretty drunk by the end of the night...you won’t report them, will you?” he glanced nervously at Hermione, as if suddenly remembering she, as well as Ron, was a prefect.

“Not this time,” Hermione said back, smiling at Neville. “Think you boys deserve a break tonight.”

“Thanks. Night, you two.”

Neville glanced back and forth between them one more time, as if pondering whether or not to say something, and then bounded off up the stairs without another word. Hermione looked after him, frowning, but Ron only shrugged in response.

The air was heavy between the two of them. In the silence of the common room, Hermione could have sworn she could hear Lavender’s soft sobs and Parvarti’s words of comfort. She tried her best to block it out, focusing on the crackle of the common room fire.

It was Ron who broke the silence. “I…’m sorry she said all that ‘bout you.” HIs voice was quiet and he stumbled over a few words.

“Hmm?” Hermione cocked an eyebrow, turning to face him directly. He’d gone red in the face once again, but kept the eye contact.

“I’m sorry she said all that stuff. Lavender. It was, well, it was bloody out of line, glad to be rid of her, shouldn’t have said that shite to you, she was wrong, you’re not like that, she…”

Hermione waved her hand and shook her head, willing him to stop talking. “It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not,” he replied fiercely. She couldn’t take it much longer - the look in his eyes was far too vulnerable, more vulnerable than she’d perhaps ever seen him. She looked away, staring into the fire once more.

It had been a few rocky months for the two of them, but when he looked at her like that, she couldn’t help but fall back into the same feelings, the feelings she’d been falling into for the past five years, no matter how hard she tried not to.

“Thanks,” she finally muttered, stealing another glance at his direction. He was still watching her intently, and raised his eyebrows in response.

“For what?”

“For...for standing up for me. Thank you.”

“Oh. No, don’t thank me, reckon I have a lot of standing up to make up for this year, I mean, I’ve been a prat, Hermione, I should be thanking you for still talking to me…”

“Of course I’m still talking to you, Ron. We’re friends, and I wasn’t particularly pleasant towards you either, I mean...it’s in the past now, right?”

“Right.”

He grinned at her and she smiled back, then proceeded to pull a book out of her bag and onto her lap. “I don’t suppose Harry will be back anytime soon,” she explained, rifling through pages, “May as well get comfortable here.”

“We waiting up for him?”

“I figured as much. I’d like to know how Felix works for him. And besides, it’s probably best we keep him away from the dorm for a bit, he might accidentally jump for joy when he finds out Dean and Ginny split, and with Dean in that state…”

Ron was frowning at her. “What d’you mean?”

“Oh, honestly, Ron, if you don’t know by now…”

Ron sat there, dumbfounded, staring at Hermione as she continued to flip pages. “You don’t mean Harry...Harry wouldn’t...you think Harry fancies Ginny?”

Hermione looked up and stared at him with an amused expression on her face. “Oh, please, Ronald, it’s quite obvious, he turns pale and stammers nearly every time she so much as brushes his arm.”

Across from her, Ron looked as though he was going to be sick. She couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on his face.

“You’re joking.”

“I’m not. You’re just oblivious.”

“That would...Merlin, Hermione, if you’re right…is that why he’s been dodgy around her and Dean? I thought it was just ‘cause she’s my sister, but...oh my god...you’re right.”

She smirked at him as he continued to stare, open-mouthed, as if his entire world has just been turned upside down. She was afraid, for a moment, that he’d be angry, but then he grinned. “If Ginny knew, she’d be ecstatic, remember her in our second year? Head over heels, she was barmy...how...how come you noticed?”

“I told you. He’s very obvious.”

“Not to me he’s not, and he’s my best mate!”

“Yes, well, you’ve never been particularly observant in the feelings department, Ronald - ”

“That’s not true.”

“Oh, really?” she narrowed her eyes, as if daring him to prove her wrong.

He swallowed hard. “Yeah. I mean, I notice...things. I just...I just doubt what I notice, I reckon...how can I get better at that?”

“At what?”

“At...at noticing feelings stuff. You know.”

He was looking at her with an expression that told her they weren’t talking about Harry’s feelings for Ginny anymore, not one bit. It made her nervous, and she glanced down at her lap. “Well,” she began, but was saved by Seamus’s entrance, who was walking into the dorm with a couple of fifth year Gryffindors with a wide smile on his face.

“Oy! Seamus!” Ron called, waving him over. “Dean wants you up there.”

“Huh?” Seamus, for some reason, had turned his own shade of red - something that Ron, of course, did not notice, but Hermione clued into immediately.

“Apparently, my sister chucked him, now he wants some of your Irish whiskey. Just don’t let it get out of hand, alright? I _am_ a prefect.” He clapped Seamus on the back and then said goodnight. The interaction gave Hermione enough time to avoid Ron’s question by burying her nose back into her book and taking out a scroll.

Ron watched her for a moment, sighed, and then joined in. They stayed like that for at least another few hours, chatting every once and a while to compare answers on their homework and on Ron’s part, occasionally crack a joke.

By one in the morning, they both decided that it was far too late to bother staying up for Harry any more.

“Reckon Felix is doing his job, if Harry’s still out,” Ron acknowledged as he packed up his things, “We’ll get all the answers from him in the morning.”

“I just hope he’s all right…”

“It’s Harry. Of course he’s all right.”

Hermione gathered her things and glanced nervously up towards the stairwell. Ron, as if reading her mind, spoke up suddenly: 

“Hey, you gonna be all right up there?”

She nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t want her to say anything else to you. I told her not to, but if she does, come get me, I mean it…”

“I’ll be fine, Ron,” Hermione smiled, placing a hand on his arm and noticing how his ears glowed red at her touch. “I...I actually reckon I’ll go check on Ginny, see how she’s doing. Maybe sleep in their dorm for the night.”

“Prob’ly a good idea.”

She let go of his arm and turned to leave, but came to a stop when he grabbed her back: “Hermione, wait,” he said, turning her around.

“What?”

He was staring at the ceiling, eyes searching for the words he was looking for, and then met her gaze. “I...I dunno how much you heard, but - “

“I heard quite a bit.”

“Right. Well, sorry about that, but I...I know I said she was wrong, ‘bout the things she said about you, but...but not everything she said was wrong.”

Hermione narrowed her eyes and cocked an eyebrow, making Ron falter a few more times before finishing his sentence.

“I mean, she was right about...what she said at the end, about...about me being in...about why I got with her.”

He stumbled over every word, entire face the same color as his hair now, glowing in the fire light. Hermione felt her own face turn a comparable shade of red, goosebumps rising on her skin underneath Ron’s hand.

“S’no excuse,” he continued, breaking eye contact and speaking quickly, “No excuse at all, just thought, I mean, you know I’m rubbish at all this stuff, just thought you should...know.” His voice got very quiet at the end and he released her arm, twiddling his own fingers.

Hermione smiled at him kindly. “I...thank you, Ron.”

"No, don’t thank me!”

She shook her head and let out a laugh, trying to ignore the butterflies dancing around in her stomach. “Really, thank you,” she said again.

He shook his head, and then outstretched his arms. “Hug?” he asked.

She responded by throwing her arms around his neck, holding on for a few moments longer than “just friends” normally do, and then planting a quick kiss on his cheek. “Goodnight, Ron,” she whispered, releasing him and moving towards the stairs.

“Night, Hermione,” he said back, a lopsided grin on his face.

While perhaps it hadn’t been a good night for teenage romance according to Dean and Lavender, for the rest of them, it had been a particularly lucky night.


End file.
